Darkshock
by ColdCypher
Summary: Chapter 4 is up... There're still some mistakes and things but I'll fix that this weekend, sorry for the trouble :P I also posted the entire story as ch5 in doc format
1. The start of all my troubles

Dark shock CH1  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2, only myself and my brother... I think the dimensional PDA belongs to my dad's company, though I'm not to sure. ;P  
  
I know this is a pathetic fic... Maybe you think it's not, if you do, praise away... I feel like an idiot for writing it and luckily my name's not on the net so nobody'll know it's me BWAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHA OKay, I'll stop now, read away.  
  
My brother and I found something quite strange in my father's study… It was a small computer-like device with weird dials on it. "What do you think this it is?", asked my brother. "I don't know and I don't care…", I said as I shook my head and stood to walk out of the room. "Want to test it out?", he asked me with a smirk… I froze. "If dad finds out you messed with his things……", I growled… "I've already gotten in enough trouble because of you, remember when you gave me his PDA to mess around with and I accidentally wiped all the data off it? … Now put that back where you found it." "Heh, you're just scared.", mumbled my brother, just loud enough for my to hear him… My face twisted into a dark snarl as I ignored him and walked out of the room. 'Just because he's older, he thinks he can push me around, that jerk.' As I reached the bottom of the stairs I heard an excited cry coming from my fathers study and I paused and looked up… My brother came running around the corner with an excited look on his face… "Arima! I think this is-", he was suddenly cut off as he missed a step on the stairs… the only thing that flew through my mind was to save my older brother. I quickly moved under him to break his fall and he landed on me with a crash and we both struck the floor… "Hey, you okay?", I asked in a breathless voice from having the wind knocked out of me. "Oh shit…", mumbled my brother as he pushed himself off me… "Hiro?", I questioned as I followed his gaze and gaped as it locked onto the small device that he'd had in his hands, it lay there broken, some wires peeling out of it's casing like a gutted animal's entrails… "I think you killed it…", I said… a bit panicked…  
  
My brother carefully picked up the piece of technology, trying not to disturb the delicate wires, hoping he could fix it… I started at him for a while he was looking at the little machine and cradling it like was a lost love. "Hey, Hiroshi?…", I asked hesitantly… "Ari… I think this was some sort of… I don't know…" Suddenly there was a spark that made us jump and the little machine sprang to life… At first it sounded like a computer booting up but the pitch became higher and higher… "Uh… that sounds like it's gonna explode or something…", I said with a hint of fear in my voice… The suddenly it happened… A huge black orb expanded from the machine before we could react and enclosed us. It was partially transparent form the inside and I could see the outside world a bit. I sat crouched on my knees, looking around frantically. Suddenly it expanded and the bottom seemed to start melding into the floor. "Hiroshi… This is all your fault, you know that, right?", I said with a deep glare at my brother. He just gulped and glanced down at our feet as a black fluid that seemed to swallow all light pooled around our feet. Suddenly the floor we'd been standing on dropped away and we slipped into the black liquid… both of us were worried about what was to happen next but neither of us feared death so we uttered not a single sound as we were engulfed by the darkness.  
  
I lost sight of my brother and though I was worried I felt strangely comforted but the black liquid feel that held my body as I was slowly tumbling through endless space. It was like this space I was in was a part of me and reacted to my very essence. Finally a light appeared in the distance… I was reluctant to leave the darkness' embrace but none the less… I moved towards the light, once more catching sight of my brother, not to far ahead of me… He looked back and acknowledged my presence before looking forward again and flying towards the light… I followed closely after him… Suddenly the light gave way and a world appeared before us… We were up in the sky and looked down on mountains and forest and springs. 'Springs?! With bamboo poles?!' I looked at my brother where he hang in the air next to me. He looked at me and had an excited smile on his face as our bodies suddenly lurched forward as if someone was shoving us into this unknown world. Both of us headed straight for the pools closest to the mountain, spreading out our bodies to minimize the speed increase per second. Now I was really worried… 'With my luck I'll probably miss the pools and hit dirt before exploding into a messy pulp.', I thought to myself. But that didn't happen… as we fell, something grabbed hold of us, some force that seemed to be all around the area and directed us to the pools. With an enormous splash we each hit a pool.  
  
I sunk below the water, winching at the pain of striking the surface at such a speed… The water was deeper than I'd expected and I pushed off the bottom, swimming to the surface… But before I could the bubbles around me suddenly started clinging to my form, blocking my vision as the multiplied at an alarming rate… Suddenly I could feel my entire body changing… weight shifted and disappeared as even my bone structure was rearranged. My breath was escaping me and I struggled free of the bubbles, swimming to the surface with all my might… I crawled out of the water and onto the bank, trying to get as far from the water as I could… I felt like little hands had been groping at my body, urging me to join them in their death… I fault vaguely horrified… Definitely a fate worse than death, to be stuck in one of those pools for all eternity. I coughed and gasped air into my lungs as I crouched on the bank, the water dripping off my form and seeping into the ground. There were two abnormal weights on my chest and a vague feeling that something was missing on my lower body… I looked down… well 'up' at myself from the way I was crouching and saw two pert breasts through the collar of my oversized t-shirt. Deep blue, almost black hair fell in front of my face as I shifted into a sitting position. I heard some movement to my left and looked up to see an older boy there… His fiery red hair stood spiked out in all directions and he had a deep tan to his skin. He had a boyishly mischievous looking face… "Uh… Hiro?", I asked hesitantly. He looked up and our eyes locked… "Arima?…!!! BWAHAHAHAAH! This is priceless! I wish I had my camera!", he laughed. I growled… and waited for him to finish… when his laughter died down to snickers I looked back up at him and asked, "Are you done now?… First we have to figure out what's going on here…" I was still glaring at him. "Well, we look like animè characters and we're in Jusenkyo valley… so I guess we jumped do a different dimension…", he said with a shrug. "HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT SO CALMLY?!", I cried in frustration… "Don't you even regret for a second what you've done?" "What are you complaining about? You're the one who was always talking about traveling to different worlds…" "Sigh Yeah… I guess I was… So? What's our first move?" "Well first I want to get some martial arts training… and then head to Nerima." "Ugh… I don't think so… I'm not really one for straining myself to my physical limits." "Then why don't you head to Japan and try to find us a place to stay?" "How am I gonna do that?! We don't even have any identification!" "I'm sure you'll figure something out… Mumbled Wimp." "I heard that!", I cried as I stomped off in a southerly direction… Making sure to keep away from the pools. "We'll meet at Furinkan! In about, six months!!", cried Hiro after me. 'Yeah, yeah, asshole.', I thought.  
  
I trudged along the overgrown footpath, hoping that I'd get to the closest town that had nothing to do with amazons or bird-people or half-breed dragons… The road eventually widened into a cart-road… My stomach grumbled as I hid in the underbrush for the night and went to sleep.  
  
During my travels through the country I learnt something that bugged the hell out of me. My original form still looked human, unlike the world I was in which had a cartoon look to it, like my cursed body. When ever someone saw me in my normal form they just froze up as if time had stopped and when I was changed or left their field of vision they'd just continue as if nothing had happened and they hadn't seen a thing. It was like their minds couldn't grasp the existence of my form and chose to freeze up…  
  
The effect my real form had on people did help me get some clothes and food though, so I wasn't really complaining. The girl body did freak me out a bit with all it's new sensations… fabric always rubbing in the wrong places and balance completely off. In fact… Okay so it freaked me out a lot, it scared me so much I lost all sense of lust for a female body… I turned sexually indifferent… … Believe me… that is scary.  
  
I traveled to Japan on a cruise ship… it was quite easy actually… All I had to do was look for the names of some of the passengers that cancelled and write my name at the bottom of the page in pen, telling them I was a last minute passenger. They accepted it quite easily and didn't even say a word about payment. Security on cruise ships reservations sure are lacking.  
  
I rubbed my fingertips over the jeweled necklace I'd taken off some bandits on they way. It actually scared me how close they came to… I don't want to talk about it. Sufficed to say… Hot water saved my butt and for that I would always be eternally grateful. The necklace was currently around me neck as I stood, staring out over the ocean… The dress I was wearing was a casual summer sundress, which I'd picked up in china. They had some nice styles and I'd wanted to try it out… besides… the cool sea breeze licking my form, accompanied by the spray of the ocean, made me feel more at home than I'd ever felt… 'This is the life…', I thought to myself. 'Free food (Included in the boarding fee), free board and a nice warm shower every night. The view was breathtaking, the people were nice and the water seemed to calm my frayed nerves… For the first time in the two weeks of travel I relaxed my guard. I was just a normal fifteen year old girl on a sea cruise. Of course the fact that I was really a eighteen year old boy from another dimension didn't even cross my mind at that point. As for why I actually felt comfortable in my girl body for the first time? Even I don't know… maybe I was finally accepting it… besides, it's not like I could do anything about it. The constant ocean spray, no matter how light, kept me mostly female on the trip and now that I was gonna be around people for the next three to four days I wanted to interact a little instead of having the frosted over at my presence.  
  
I head the click of a camera shutter and turned to look behind me. There stood Japanese boy… he looked about my age…"Sorry.", he said with an embarrassed smile. "I just had to…", he said with a light blush… "It's okay, I don't mind.", I said with a smile… He seemed sincere enough… "I'm actually a photography fanatic myself… I've been thinking of making a career for myself in that area.", I said with a genuine smile. The guy's nervous movements put me even more at ease. I moved away from the rail, towards him and held out my hand… "Hi… I'm Arima… Arima Night." "American?", he asked, looking a bit startled, grabbing hold of my hand… "South African… one of the few Korean people from there." "I'm Hideki Muzino, age sixteen, photographer for the Furinkan school newspaper." It was my turn to be surprised, "You go to Furinkan?" "Yup, and proud of it… I'm one of the few who can actually survive in that chaos soup." I sat down at the rail, my feet dangling down the edge while my arms rested on top a horizontal bar of the rail. Hideki sat down next to me. "I'm actually heading for Nerima… I was hoping I could find a place to stay there and maybe even go to school at Furinkan." "You're traveling alone?" "Um, y-yeah… I left my older brother back in China… we're supposed to meet in Nerima, five and a half months from now."  
  
"Really?! It must be hard for you to be traveling all by yourself, not to mention dangerous!", cried Hideki with a worried frown creasing his face. "Heh… it's not all that bad… I may not be much of a martial artist but I have some ways of fighting back…", I said mysteriously. He had the most adorable little sister and of course his father had arranged for him to baby-sit some kids, much to Hideki's annoyance… I decided to help out since he looked like he was in enough trouble already, besides… I couldn't let my new friend face those monsters alone… he might not survive…  
  
Truthfully, I love children… their innocent smiles the way the look when they grow up a little, realizing when they're doing wrong and feeling regret… helping each other or and caring about the people around them… Too many people loose this, at first, unyielding innocence far too early in their lives. Looking at them playing breaks my heart into a thousand pieces when I realize that their happiness would most likely be replaced by hardship tests of character…  
  
The sun slowly sets on the horizon and after a final goodbye I go to eat my dinner in my cabin. I remove the blue-jeweled necklace and place it gently on the bedside table… I then unbutton the dress and let it drop to the floor before taking off my underwear and heading for the shower… The warm water cascades down my too real body… For the first time I realize that I'm actually starting to feel uncomfortable with turning back… it made me feel out of place like I didn't belong in this world. But I've never been one to worry about the future… I live for the here and now and expect the worst. That way… It hurts less… Never hope for the best since hope only leads to disappointment and pain. I shook my head and cleared the painful memories from my head before turning on the cold water and shakily stepping out of the shower… my face scrunched up in emotional pain… I look up in the face in the mirror… A beautiful blue haired girl that seemed exotic and strangely alluring with her cobalt eyes and hurt expression. I clench my fist, wanting to strike the mirror and shatter it to a million pieces but I restrained myself, not wanting to pay for it. Suddenly I heard a light footstep intruding in my cabin and I slid open the bathroom door.  
  
I looked into my cabin in shock, seeing someone dressed all in black, like a ninja, with a mask hiding his face. He was bent over my bedside table and holding my necklace. His posture was slightly hunched. 'One of the robbers from China??! No… it can't be… they don't even know who took it and where it is… a thief! Like me……' Suddenly the person sprang into action and roughly shoved me out of the way, back into the bathroom but my foot caught on something and I tripped… the last thing I saw was the edge of the wash basin, heading straight for me… I think I remember crying out in shock.  
  
Slowly I woke up blinking painfully as my blurry vision adjusted to the light… I looked around and my face locked onto Hideki. "Hey…", he said with a sad look on his face, "You okay?" "I-I think so…", I said hoarsely as I lightly touched the bandaged bump on my head with a winch. "I told you it's not safe to travel alone-" "Shut up!", I growled… I was in no mood for lectures… I tried to sit up but the world started spinning and I plopped back down on the pillow feeling a little sick. "You'd better rest a bit, that's a nasty bump you got there…", I nodded, not having the strength to argue…"He's right you know… That 'bump', as he calls it, should keep you bedridden for the rest of the trip plus, the ocean's sway isn't helping any." I looked up to see a man dressed in a doctor's coat. I nodded a bit, feeling the dizzy wave sweep over me again and closed my eyes, relaxing a bit as I went to sleep.  
  
When I woke up again I was alone and the room was dark… the digital clock indicated three am… not several hours after I'd taken a shower and I was feeling like new. At least I think so, unless I slept for an entire day or something but all indications and my hunch said it was just early in the morning the following day. I got up, not the least bit tired anymore… I wandered into the hall, vaguely noticing that all I had on was a button up shirt. A movement caught my eye and I looked up to see someone going down the stairs to one of the lower decks… his movements were swift and precise and… it was suspicious.  
  
I quickly followed after him, knowing those stairs led only to one place. The cargo hold. When I walked into the huge hold I stuck close to the walls, not wanting to be spotted. I crawled my way onto the crates… it reminded me of the blanket castles and mazes my brother and I used to build when we were little… I squeezed between to tight crates and then paused as I heard voices… I slowly looked around the crate in front of me and gasped softly at what I saw… Two men were loading jewels and things into a crate… One dressed in black, whose back was turned to me, and another large one with muscles that made most men look like wimps.  
  
I looked at them for a few seconds, trying to see the other's face… he seemed somewhat familiar… but I couldn't place him. Suddenly I felt cold sharp steel on my throat. "Well well, what do we have here?", drooled a disgusting voice… 'I forgot about the guy I followed in here!', I thought to myself in shock. An arm wrapped around my waist and lifted me off the ground… I did nothing to protest, a little freaked by the knife to my throat. We dropped to the ground behind the other men silently. "Look what I found guys, a little snoop…", said the guy in a freakish slithery voice. The two men looked up… though the one's face was still cast in shadow, so I couldn't see him.  
  
"Think I could have some fun with her?", drooled the man as his hand snaked to the edge of the oversized shirt and started dragging it up my leg… I shivered in disgust, thinking I'd rather die. Suddenly I was startled by a glint of light and something was imbedded in the man's hand… I looked down to see a small knife sticking out of the back of his hand as he rolled away from me, clutching his injury and swearing. "You deserved that, Drake. Firstly, for messing up your mission and trying to rob an occupied room and secondly for daring to try and touch her. 'Wait… I recognize that voice…' The 'man' stepped into the light, reveling a smirking of a sixteen year old boy. "Hideki?!", I cried out, startled.  
  
"One and the same… Arima, right?" I nodded meekly, wondering what the hell was going on. "Hideki, you asshole!", cried the injured man. "Shut up Drake, just be glad I didn't kill you. Turns to me Where were we…" Suddenly I noticed my necklace dangling from the large man's hands… "HEY! My necklace! I stole that fare and square… it was mine first!", I cried as I lunged for it but a strong hand grabbed onto my arm, stopping me in place… "First… How come you're out of bed… I thought you were supposed to be bed ridden for the next two days…", asked Hideki with a deep frown on his face. "I heal fast.", I snarled. Actually I had no real idea how I was up and running so early.  
  
He nodded his head sagely and then said, "Let me ask you this… You said you 'stole' the necklace… right?" "Yeah, so?" "Tell me about it.", he ordered… "Or I might just let Drake there have his fun." I looked over at the shivering, slobbering and excited asshole and cringed away… "Um… When I was traveling on one of the back roads in China some idiots tried to attack me and steal the money and clothes I stole at a town earlier… I, uh, 'froze' them and took everything they had…", I said weakly. "What do you mean froze?…", he asked, as a smile was already creeping up on his face. "Um, well… When my body comes in contact with hot water… I change… Humans can't fit their minds around my form so they basically freeze up…" "BWAHAHAHA! You expect us to believe that?!", came Drake's amused voice. "Shut up Drake… To me Prove it…" "Well, then just get me some hot water.", I said, irritated. Hideki held out his hand towards the big man, "Daniel.", he said… Daniel handed him a thermos which Hideki handed to me. I paused for a second before unscrewing the top… the strong smell of coffee struck my nose.  
  
I sighed before holding out my arm and pouring the steaming liquid over my arm, winching a bit at the heat… My form blurred for a second and shifted… When I looked back up at the people the were frozen in place… Okay, now I had a choice… I could just get out of here… or I could stay and learn more of what they were doing… I decided the best choice was to leave since I didn't want to face 'Drake', right now… I headed out of the hold and towards my room… the shirt wasn't oversized on this form and I felt a little awkward walking around with no pants on but lucky for me, nobody was around and if there was anybody, they wouldn't remember seeing me anyway. I walked into my room and spilled some cold water over my arm from the faucet, changing back. I pulled off the shirt and dropped it on the floor. I paused and stared at myself in the full length mirror. An exotic, beautiful young girl stared back at me… Her cobalt eyes sparkled in a haunting way. Slowly my eyes moved down as I studied my form… 'Is this me? Is this really me or just some joke Jusenkyo played on me? Am I Arima or this person, this girl?' I just didn't know anymore… I was supposed to be a guy, fierce, brave and strong willed… though I've never been any of those… I've always been weak and emotional but I've always kept myself hidden from the world. 'Is this who I'm meant to be?' I felt like I was being torn in two… I was loosing my identity. My sense of self… Slowly I crawled into the bunk and sighed sadly as I drifted off to sleep.  
  
Early the next morning I awoke, feeling a bit better… I tried not to think of my curse and dressed in some loose fitting pants and a muscle t-shirt. I wasn't in the mood for getting dressed up for anything. As I walked down the hall, Hideki appeared in front of me, "Hey…", he said… "I guess you didn't report us last night…" "You know, maybe I should!", I snarled. He grabbed my arm and shoved me against the wall… With his face so close to mine I could feel his breath on my skin, "But you won't, will you?", he breathed. My heart raced and I could feel heat rising in my face. 'I'm blushing?!!' I looked down for a second before shoving him away from me and continued down the hall without a word. I rubbed my cheeks lightly with my thumb and forefinger, hoping he hadn't noticed. If I'd turned around I would have seen his triumphant smirk as he gazed after me.  
  
END CHAPTER  
  
How was that? Yeah, I know... I'm a wimp, right? 


	2. Entering Neriman life

Dark shock CH2  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2, only myself and my brother... I think the dimensional PDA belongs to my dad's company, though I'm not to sure. ;P  
  
The final two days past without much trouble… Daniel seemed nice enough and he actually hung out with me, just to talk… Hideki was still babysitting everyday but I let him suffer alone for a while. It was on the last day that all hell broke loose… Everyone's jewelry and allot of money turned up missing… Hideki had all the stolen goods stored in a government marked crate which had express instructions to not be opened… the crate was lined with lead to fend off the x-ray machines. As we got off the ship, every passenger was searched, including their luggage… They were only allowed to leave once their ID's checked out. I had no choice but to 'frost' them, in order to leave the ship.  
  
I met Daniel and Hideki outside the terminal… They'd offered to have me stay with Hideki's family in Nerima… It was the best option I had and since I had no real identification I had little choice but to accept. The train trip to Nerima was long and before I knew it I'd fallen asleep again. When I awoke I was startled to find myself being carried by Daniel. I looked up at him through my bangs and he lightly placed me down on my feet. "Sorry.", commented Hideki innocently, "You were sleeping so peacefully, we didn't want to wake you." It was quite surprised at his face… Instead of that sharp, intelligent look he'd worn for most of the trip, he had a boyishly innocent look on his face… He looked completely normal. "Thanks Daniel… You get going now… I'll see you this weekend.", said Hideki as he waved the large man away… When Daniel was gone he walked over to the front door and knocked loudly… A normal brown-haired woman opened the door.  
  
"Hideki!!", she cried out as she embraced him lovingly… "Welcome home, son. Did you're sister go off with your father again?" "Hiya mom… and yeah… She's probably gone over to his house now." "That bastard of a man doesn't deserve to be with her, I don't understand why she likes him so much." The woman continued to fuss over him until she finally noticed me where I was standing uncomfortably. "Well now, who is this young lady… You pick up a girlfriend?" "BlushHaha, no no… This is, um, Arima… We met on the cruise… she's actually looking for a place to stay while she's in Nerima and well… I offered to let her stay with us." "Of course dear!", cried his mother, "So, when are you getting married?" "I said she's not my girlfriend!!!", cried Hideki… He looked at me and gave a light nervous laugh… which I returned… "Sorry… my mom's a bit… eccentric…. Come on, I'll show you the guest room." As we walked past I gave a quick bow to his mother and dashed up the stairs after him. The guest room almost felt like it was separate from the house… it was tucked away in a corner where it wouldn't bother anybody… I don't think they came into the room very often but it was pretty nice, even though the only thing outside the window was the neighbor's house, a tree and a little bit of blue sky. I dropped my pack on the floor and opened the windows to let some fresh air in. 'I've found a place to stay…', I thought, smiling to myself… 'This isn't so bad at all.'  
  
Hideki suddenly came into my room and said, "Come on Arima-chan, let me show you around the house…" He grabbed my wrist and dragged me out of the room. I got a quick tour of the whole place, bathroom, living room, kitchen and dojo… Yup, they had a dojo in the back though it seemed a bit smaller than a normal dojo. "You'll be starting your training tomorrow.", stated Hideki. "Training?!", I asked, startled, "What do you mean training?!" "What? You didn't think I'd let you join the team without having a little fighting skill, did you?" I hesitated… Hideki looked at me questioningly, "Our family-style is a form of ninjitsu. Our ninja line goes way back to the Tokagawa era… The style basically consists of speed, agility and stealth… First lesson is how to move silently and then we'll move on to some speed training and accuracy training with some kunai." I nodded numbly, resigning myself to my fate… 'I'm gonna have to learn some form of fighting if I want to survive in Nerima anyway… So why not…' I shrugged to myself and sat down as Hideki started lecturing me on the history of his family style and the basics it followed.  
  
It was late at night when I finally got to take a bath and go to bed. But I have to admit that right then, sleeping in a bed was pure heaven… I'd had to sleep in tents and on the ground for so long that I'd missed out… The softness was more than I could stand and I was asleep in seconds.  
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Early the next morning I was grabbed by the scuff of my neck and dragged roughly down the stairs into the dojo. By the time we got there I was pretty much awake… I looked at Hideki with the intent of glaring at him but his expression startled me… He was serious… his steel gaze returned and he the same man I met in the cargo hold of that ship. I shivered a bit but and paid rapt attention as he started training me. He showed me exactly how to walk and how to extend my senses… Then he proceeded to put my through hell to build up my stamina and endurance… Days passed and then weeks and all the time I was getting even more excited as the beginning of the second semester approached… 'This time you're gonna be more outgoing! You're going to make friends.', I told myself while clenching my fist. I pretty much didn't leave the house during that time, except for shopping trips. Most of my days were spent training and I have to admit that I picked it up pretty fast. Near the end I was able to spear a can with the kunai from forty meters away and move without a sound. Hideki also started me on basic hand to hand combat training and I was already quite adequate in dodging and defense, though my attack strength still needed a lot of work.  
  
Hideki's little sis, which by now I knew was named Kazuko, was finally coming home since she had to start attending school again. Hideki's parents were divorced… and Hideki didn't seem to get along with his father at all… I didn't ask why though… it's impolite, right? Apparently the two parents had made an agreement that Mr Muzino would have his children over during the vacation breaks… if they, the children, agreed to it of course… I just think Kazuko liked being spoilt rotten.  
  
I didn't spend much time with her though… I was too busy getting ready for school, books, catching up on the work I'd missed(Not that I really needed to since I already knew most of it… it was just review) and training with Hideki.  
  
On the first day of school I was dressed in the Furinkan girl's uniform that Hideki's mom had modified especially for me… It seemed a bit more form fitting than those normal uniforms of Furinkan. "Are you really sure I'll blend in?", I asked Hideki while indicating my uniform and plucking it here and there. During the time I've spent with him, I've gotten to know him quite well… his eccentric side, like his mother, his kind side, his harsh side and his brutal and cruel side. It took me a while to integrate all these different images into one person but I managed in the end. Sometimes he can switch between them so fast that it can freak me out like nothing. I mean, going from stupidly funny to deadly serious in a split second, would freak anybody, right?  
  
(AN: If you're really curious, Mrs… or should that be Ms. Muzino takes Kazuko to school, that's why she's not with us.)  
  
"Don't worry so much about it…", he said good-naturedly, "Nobody'll even notice you." "I hope I don't stand out… I don't really like attention." "Would you stop worrying already… You'll fit in just fine, A-ko-chan." "Snarl I told you not to call me that! I'm not a kid, you're only a year older than me!" (Lies! I was three years older than him… not that I looked it at the moment, though.) We continued walking towards school in basic silence, me with a huge pout on my face, until Hideki spoke up… "Listen… Um… I don't know how to say this but, you need to keep away from me at school…" "Huh? Why?" "Well… I'm playing the wimpy, somewhat perverted photographer and if you started hanging around me suddenly people would get suspicious…", stated Hideki… I sighed and nodded… I'd actually grown quite fond of him in the last few weeks since most of my waking moments had been spent with him. Pretending not to know him, hurt a bit. "Hey, wait, what if I play the nerdy and intelligent girl?", I asked him, "It's still early, if I could find some thin glasses with a thick frame it'll make me seem even more dull…" "Fine… but I'll approach you at school, okay… For now, we don't know each other…" He handed me some money and sent me on a detour to a spectacles shop… The shop owner was quite understanding… "I was thinking of buying something that would make me seem plain and stand out less…" "Why would you want to do that?", asked the man in surprise… "If I stand out a bit less I can get to know the people in my new school for who they really are, instead of being dragged in with the 'snooty beauty queens'…", I said shyly… "I see… Mmm… well, I think I have something that would suit your purposes… besides, a customer is a customer.", smiled the man.  
  
After I received a pair of round glasses that distorted my features enough to make me less noticeable… I arranged my hair so that my bangs hid my face partially and headed towards the school. I entered the gates, clutching my pack tightly to my chest as I took quick strides towards the school administration building. My eyes flitted around from one person to the next, taking in their features and what they were doing. The school grounds was relatively nice and there were quite a few trees dotting the place as well as some nicely greened grass that seemed quite well watered. I idly touched the large bruise on my rib cage that Hideki had given me in my training last night… 'I'd better skip PE if I want to stay behind the scenes, besides, there's no way I'm going into a girls locker room… I'm still a… guy…' I hesitated a bit at that… most of the past month was spent in my girl form and I was completely comfortable in it now, while my guy form was just out of place in this world.  
  
The thing was that while I was in my girl form I'd actually started considering going out with girls as well as guys… I sort of developed a dual sexuality… I mean, guy on guy action still freaked me to infinity but I am a girl, so it's okay, right? I shook the thoughts from my head and waited at the front desk for the teacher to come pick me up and take me to class.  
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I walked into the class behind Mrs. Kraken… Damn that woman is scary, I could swear she's the mother to some mass murderer or something. Anyway, that's besides the point… We walked into the class and I stopped, standing at her desk… "STAND! BOW! SIT!", cried the class rep, accordingly. "Welcome to the second semester. Now… we have a new student with us, her name is Arima Night. To me Please write your name on the board." I did as she asked, writing it in English and in Kanji. Damn I hated Kanji. "Would you like to say anything to the class, miss night?", she asked formally. I kept my eyes downcast and shook me head. Then please take a seat at the back, next to Minako. The girl in question raised her hand, indicating my seat. She was one of those supermodel people… the snooty bimbo types from what I could tell at first glance… she was only fifteen and she was wearing enough makeup to make a prostitute seem normal. Damn I hate those kinds of people… she didn't even look at me as I took my seat…  
  
I like window seats… It makes me feel a little farther away from all the kids… like I'm less part of the collective and more a mind of my own… I could gaze at the green colliding with the blue sky for hours… Besides, I didn't really want to pay attention to English class anyway… Of course it couldn't stay that way for too long… "Miss Night! If you're not going to pay attention then feel free to leave my class!", called the teacher from the front… "Bu-but I am paying attention Ma'am.", I stuttered. "Well then translate this, 'Sam drank the cool water from the fountain.'" "Um, Sam drank the cool water from the fountain?", I replied reluctantly. The woman looked surprised and just settled for a sharp glare before continuing with class.  
  
During break I kept my eyes on everybody as the split into the different groups and headed out of the class. Two girls stopped and turned to me, one of them catching my eye… She was cute beyond words… her brown shoulder length hair dancing around her face as she tucked a stray strand behind her ear. I cast my gaze to the floor, trying to conceal my blush. 'I guess I'm still more guy than I thought.', I thought to myself. I was startled at my reverie when their voices suddenly spoke up from right next to me. "You were pretty cool in the English class, uhh?" "J-just call me A-ko, that's what my friends call me." (AN: -ko is usually part of a name, that indicates child. While -chan is a suffix to indicate um… How do I put this? Small? petite? Sometimes child? I can't really put a single meaning on it, like most translated words used by the populace… –chan is used as a more familiar term for someone. It's hard to explain. But the –ko in Ranko means child and so on and so forth.)  
  
"I can see why.", said the other girl smugly, "You've barely got a chest to speak of and you're the shortest in the class." My arms clamped over my meager assets… 'If I were to take off these glasses right now… bitch… You wouldn't be so smug in front of the cutest girl in the world…', I thought as I resisted the urge and just glared at her. (Okay… so maybe I developed a little ego. "Leiko! That's not nice. to me I'm sorry she's a bit crude, my name is Kohana but everyone calls me Hana, nice to meet you." "I smiled a bit hesitantly, "Nice to meet you too… My English… is pretty well developed since I was born in South Africa…", I said, my voice weighed by reluctance.  
  
"Really?! What's it like over there?! I heard there are tons of different animals there like lions and things." "Well… yeah, I guess, but only in the wild-life reserves. The rest is covered mostly by different farms, a lot of them dried up and dead but quite a few good ones. Then there are the ocean-side cities and towns which are greener than you would believe. It's really beautiful… there's this one town where my family went for vacation when I was little… It's like walking through a jungle and suddenly coming across the ocean… It's beautiful." She smiled brightly at me, "Do you have any brothers or sisters?" "A-a brother… he's in China now though… It'll be about four and a half more months before he's coming to Nerima.", I said shyly. I forced myself to calm down and appear a little less obvious in my attention. "I wish I had a brother or sister… I'm an only child.", sighed Hana. "Um, I haven't really seen the school, would you, um, mind showing me around or something?" "Sure!", she cried as she grabbed my wrist and jerked my out of my seat… I was startled for a second as she dragged me towards the door and blushed a little as I looked at her excited face. I didn't even notice that we left a disgruntled Leiko behind.  
  
She dragged me all over school, "If always wanted to do this!", she cried… "I've read these mangas, where the supporting character describes the layout of the school and everyone's 'places' to the main character…" She smiled at me, "You can be the main character." I smiled a bit nervously at her… She was starting to freak me a bit. "Anyway, look there…" I looked where she was pointing out the hall window. There you can see Akane and her friends… She's the most popular girl in school… There's barely a single guy here that's not hounding her every morning. She's also labeled the biggest tomboy in the school." I nodded… "Guys are weird, I swear, they like girls who act like boys more than they like real girls…", I said, though mostly to myself… "That is weird, isn't it?", said Hana, looking thoughtful for a second. "Anyway… Look behind those bushes…" I looked and saw Hideki and a few other boys with cameras and video cameras… "That's the video and photography club… They're pathetic, aren't they… And there's Nabiki, Akane's older sister. She basically runs this school, she's even got most of the delinquents under her thumb, which is quite useful to her if she needs some muscle as reinforcement. Round here we call her the 'ice queen'. If you want anything… information or a favor, you can go to her, though I don't recommend it… Once you go to her, you'll never escape her again… She tends to keep coming back to squeeze every last penny out of your pocket."  
  
Bathroom… teacher's lounge… sport clubs… Basketball court: We walked around the outside of the building, sticking close to the wall… I was a bit hesitant at first but none the less, I followed after Hana. She paused and glanced around the corner. "Che… They got two of the Kendo club members guarding the entrance… We'll have look through the window around back." I nodded hesitantly and we doubled back, walking into the short alleyway between this building and the school building. "Come one…Quickly, get on my shoulders.", she said as she crouched and indicated the window. I took off my shoes and quickly clambered up and looked inside… "If thee wishith to date the fair Tendo Akane thou must first defeat her in combat!", came a familiar voice through the window and as I looked through, sure enough… there stood Kuno on the stage, "This is the decree of the shooting star of Furinkan high, Kuno Tatawaki!" The entire room filled with the cheers of various boys… Don't ask my why. 'No wonder the grounds seemed so empty…', I thought to myself… 'Looks like Hideki wasn't really interested in Kuno's 'announcement'.' "The one on the stage is Kuno, I think… the brown haired Kendo nut.", said Hana from below me. "Are you okay?", I asked. "Fine… You're actually pretty lightweight… Don't worry about it.", she said, sounding just a teeny bit strained… I turned my attention back to the ranting idiot on stage… He was actually very funny to look at… Prancing about on stage, looking like some over-exaggerated noble samurai. His movements were large and quite funny… Just being on stage was wasting away at his dignified image. I giggled a bit as he said something particularly stupid… something about him being the noble samurai which would win the heart of his beautiful flower with his prowess. Suddenly a familiar voice spoke from behind me… "Well, well… If it isn't Arima… Peeping on your first day?", he asked with a laugh.  
  
"HIDEKI!!!???!!!",I cried out as I turned to look but my foot slipped and in a startled yelp I tumble down, landing flat on my back, legs in the air, with Hana under me. Dizzy, I lie there for a second, moaning, "Itaaaaiii…."… Little swirly patterns in my eyes. Suddenly I hear the distinct sound of a camera shutter and I immediately sat up, dragging my dress over my knees. Behind me Hana sits up, rubbing her head and moaning… My hand closed around one of my shoes as I glared darkly at Hideki where he stood with his camera… Another click sounded as Hideki took another picture… He looked frozen on the spot for a second and I could see a sweatdrop rolling down the side of his head… In a split second he was off and around the corner as my shoe flew from my hand, rebounding off the wall and landing on the ground… I quickly grabbed my other shoe and darted after him, "Come back here you pervert! You'd better get rid of that photo or I'll tell mom!" As I rounded the corner I could see him running full speed for the other side of the building, hoping to escape around the other corner… My shoe flew once more and this time it was right on target, striking him in the back of the head and sending him face first into the ground. I huffed angrily at him as I picked up my shoes and headed back to where Hana was standing, looking around the corner and holding my glasses.  
  
"Wow… A-ko… you look really cute without your glasses… especially with your hair like that." I blushed as my hands went up to my hair… it was completely messed up, standing out in all directions… I looked down at the ground and shuffled my feet. "Kawaii…", breathed Hana, almost too low for me to hear… "P-promise you won't tell anyone…", I said, looking up at her, "It's just that… I thought if I looked a little more plain then the boys wouldn't bother me as much… I don't want to draw too much attention to myself… Even… the glasses are fake…" Hana looked surprised and looked down at the glasses in her hand, putting them on her eyes to test it… She nodded at me dumbly for a second before the final bell rang, signaling the end of break. "Shit!", I cried as I quickly pulled my shoes on and rushed, grabbing Hana's hand and dragging her into the nearest bathroom, to help fix my hair. We didn't even notice the small part of the wall that caved away, where my shoe had stuck, as we ran.  
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We were barely on time for class and I quickly took my seat at the window again… 'I'm so gonna wring Hideki's neck when we get home…', I grumbled to myself… I felt somebody's eyes on me and I looked up to see Leiko's eyes on me… she looked unhappy for some reason but looked away. 'What's up with her?', I wondered but dismissed it and turned my gaze out the window.  
  
The rest of the day passed quite quickly and my gaze kept flickering to Hana who was sitting in front of class… On the way to class after break I'd tried to explain to her why I wanted to stay out of the public eye but she'd just looked at me strangely and shrugged it off, saying, "You don't have to worry about being noticed here… I've tried everything… All the boys are interested in is their precious Akane." She seemed a bit upset at that but there wasn't anything I could do about it.  
  
After school I dressed in the oversized t-shirt and shorts I'd packed, put my glasses in my bag and roughed my hair back to normal… As I walked towards the school gate, ignoring the stares I was getting, I spotted Hideki… My anger had stilled since I'd last seen him but I still had an overwhelming urge to do something to him.  
  
"Hideki!!", I cried as I flung my bag at him… He caught it just before it hit his face… of course, this blocked his vision for a second and he didn't see me come flying in with a kick to his stomach. I flung him over my shoulder and dragged him off school grounds, "Come on, you're going to treat me to some ice-cream for that stunt you pulled this morning." I didn't even notice the hanging jaws as we left.  
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"What happened to keeping a low profile at school… I told you not to come near me when you look like that!", snarled Hideki where he pressed me against the wall in a small alleyway. "So-sorry. I k-kinda forgot… Besides, where do you get off taking pictures of my underwear?", I tried sounding angry. I was startled when his fist suddenly connected with my stomach, making me double over. "Be back at the house in an hour. If you thought you're training was hell before, you've got a thing coming." "Can… I still get… my ice-cream…", I managed sadly between my gasps for breath. 'Damn… I messed up… I guess his really serious about this 'low profile' thing. But Nerima's filled with crazy things… It's not like anybody'd notice us anyway.  
  
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That night, after the training, I was sitting against the dojo wall, bruised all over and feeling like I'd run at least ten marathons… I was gasped for breath, trying to sooth the aching in my muscles. "A-ko, this Friday the school is taking us on a field trip to the local museum. There's some sort of exhibit there. A treasure of the Kuno family that's supposed to be priceless. We scope out the place on the trip and the night after, we go in. Got that?" I was too weak to reply and just looked at him wearily, breathing hard. "Get ready. A-ko… I like you, we could use someone like you… So no messing this up, okay?" I nodded and coughed up a little blood. Hideki helped me up and started towards the furo-room to wash away some of my sweat and blood. "By the way… I hope you don't mind… I rushed home after school and had mom put you in the family register as my little sister, though you're name is officially now officially 'Akina Muzino'. I didn't want them to associate Arima Night with my family… … … I hope you got that friend of your under control… I don't want her being a problem later on." … I smiled to myself at his words, 'I'm family now? That… sounds nice actually. I wonder how he forged my identity.'… … I winched as I lowered myself into the hot water. 'Boy this is gonna hurt in the morning.', I thought to myself. After I'd managed to clean myself up… mostly… I dressed in silk pajamas and Hideki met me outside the door to help me to my room. Even though I still hurt, I felt a little better. Hideki seemed more caring towards me… I really felt like I was part of the family, with him around.  
  
It actually felt nice to be able to think of him as an older brother… He had some of Hiro in him… 'Hiro… Where's that bastard now… I hope that training he's going through is worth it.' I sighed and closed my eyes, drifting off into a deep sleep.  
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I was surprised that when morning came I didn't feel even a little pain. I was completely alright… and… well I actually felt more energetic than ever. Much to Hideki's annoyance. Hey, I just woke him up like any little sister would… I actually got Kazuko to join me… you gotta love family bonding smirk… Being loud and annoying is what being a younger sibling is all about. We had a short morning spar and then breakfast before heading off to school. The next day or two passed quite quickly and Hana and I became great friends. To my disappointment… she didn't seem to like girls 'that' way… …Since I was a fan of fantasy stories I made up all kinds of stories and things and since I learnt that Hana was quite good at sketching… Way ahead of me. In a few of the classes we had free, we spent our time drawing different characters and just laughing and talking… She's actually a really nice girl… I did feel a little something… like an itch in the back of my neck the whole time though… Insert Leiko in the background giving the two dark glare XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
"Nabiki-sempai… I need your help… I can pay.", said Leiko as she walked up to the older girl. "You said the magic word.", said Nabiki with an evil smirk, "Come on. We can talk in my office…" Said office was actually one of the old classrooms that was set aside for Nabiki's use… A little 'favor' from the principle… The 'office' was dark since Nabiki had placed the lighting just 'right'. It was like a scene out of some Yakuza movie. Nabiki took the seat at the window behind the desk and rotated the chair around, looking at Leiko. "So how can I help you?" Leiko was nervous but didn't hesitate to jump right in, "I need to get rid of someone. A girl… Her name is Arima Night and she's in my way. I need her to disappear out of my life… or at least move to the background." Nabiki had a thoughtful and somewhat disapproving frown on her face but money was money and she wasn't going to turn it down. "It's going to cost you…", she trailed off. Leiko pulled the money out of her pocket and slapped it down on the table. Nabiki paused and picked up the wad of cash. She thumbed through it and her eyes widened at the amount… It was enough to keep her family going for at least a month… She eyed the girl… 'I'd better keep a closer eye on you…', she thought to herself. "Fine… It'll be done… Anything specific you want done?" "I want her humiliated… I want her to hate herself so much that she'll never show her face here again…", said Leiko with a dark smirk on her face… Inwardly her heart was racing with excitement, 'Yes! Finally…' "How soon do you want it done?" "As soon as possible, if you can do something today then that'd be perfect." Nabiki nodded, "You may go.", she said with a dismissive wave.  
  
She left Nabiki with a feeling of elation in her gut… Nabiki turned to one of her lackeys. "Find out everything you can about this Arima girl. I want you to give this job to priority." Two of her lackeys bowed and quickly left…… XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
Friday… Get dressed in some casual clothes, and head off to school so the whole class can walk together to the museum down the road. The museum was quite impressive… It seemed more like a place to show off history than a place where they kept records. As we walked into the huge halls I immediately left the group and headed over to the Meiji restoration era section… one thing that interested me quite a bit since it was the time from which Kenshin came. I'd never really studied it fully.  
  
The museum had a really impressive collection… Shogun suits of armor and weapons… some of which defied rational explanation. Seems that some of the warriors were pretty creative in those times… What really caught my attention thought was at the end of the hall… A royal suit of armor, golden and inlaid with ruby. At it's base was the most beautiful sword I'd ever seen…It's entire sheath was ruby red but at it's tip was a copper tip with small black orbs. The handle itself was a work of art. Two dragons entwined tightly with each other to form a perfect fit for the hand… I reached out and touched the glass as I stared at the sword… entranced in it's power… I wanted it… I needed it… I- "ARIMA! Come on! The tour's gonna leave without us!", came Hana's voice… I almost jumped out of my skin but quickly recovered and rushed after her.  
  
The tour was boring as hell but I noticed that Arima took quite a few pictures of the surrounding area. After the initial tour of the area the classes split up, each with a guide of their own. I was a but freaked that this was the entire two grades of furinkan… there was less than two hundred kids… Must be a really small school.  
  
Finally after a few grueling hours of sheer boredom… well the exhibit displays were pretty neat… it was really only the tour guide that was boring the shit out of us, we stopped for lunch in the court-yard. I spotted Hideki sitting on a bench with some of the other members of the photo club… They were sitting in a strategic position so they could take photos of Akane, where she was sitting next to the water fountain with her two friends, Sayuri and Yuka. 'I wonder how much they pay to have Nabiki allow them to do that…', I pondered for a second. Hideki looked up and acknowledged me with slight nod of his head, unnoticed by all but me. I took a seat at the water fountain, opposite Akane… Just to annoy Hideki really… It was funny to see him scowl and not be able to do anything about it.  
  
I quietly ate my lunch, making small talk with Hana. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw someone lurch towards me… Instinct told me to move but Hideki's words flashed through my mind, 'No messing this up, okay?… low profile.' I paused long enough for my moment of escape to pass… and a firm hand fell on my chest I jerked backwards at the slight groping motion and into the cold water of the fountain with a large splash… I looked between my feet to see the face of a young boy with a mysterious look on his face. I moved the glasses back into position and looked again… Now his face was apologetic. "Uh, sorry about that… I guess I wasn't looking where I was going.", he said in Akane's direction, indicating that he had been looking at her, as he got up and walked away… not even bothering to help me out of the water. Hana grabbed my hand and pulled my out with a worried frown on her face. "Are you okay?" "Yeah-", I hear a round of laughter from the direction the boy had just gone… I just knew they were laughing at my 'misfortune'. 'Great… another bunch of perverts and jerks…', I thought to myself.  
  
"I'm going to the bathroom to dry off...", I said to Hana, "Enjoy the rest of the tour." Hana reached towards me, as if to say something but the words never came as I turned and left… 'Well at least she enjoys that guide's boring lectures… To me, it's almost like I'm back in my accounting class in high school.'  
  
I took off some of my clothes and wrung it out over the sink, getting the excess water off, hanging the shirt, sports-bra and shorts over the hand-dryer. Snapping the elastic band of my boxers, which I'd chosen to wear that morning since I'd be wearing pants, I walked over to one of the stalls… I looked down at the hole in the ground… "Aug! Bloody squatting toilets!", I cried… lucky for me Hideki's house was American style so I didn't have too much trouble with this crap.  
  
I finished and walked out of the stall, washing my hands and walking over to the hand dryer before freezing in my tracks… my clothes… they were gone… and there was a distinctive watery trail leading out of the restroom door. I crouched down, clutching my legs… "Aw, come on! This just isn't happening…" With a sigh I stood and turned on the heat at the sink, reforming into my original form. 'Whoever's doing this is looking for trouble…', I thought to myself… 'When I find out who… I'll… …'  
  
I felt like completely out of place original form… I haven't even changed back in over a month so it felt strange and unreal to me… it was like being the only jelly-tot in a box of smarties… okay, bad comparison. But the point is that I felt like I didn't belong here at all and I had this distinct feeling that I wanted to get rid of myself… I shook it off and walked out of the restroom… Actions ceased in my wake and resumed without missing a beat as I walked out of range. I walked down the streets in my boxer-shorts, sighing deeply to myself… "I hate my life."  
  
Finally, after a twenty minute walk, feeling like I was about to lash out at the nearest idiot who said a word to me, I was back home… 'Home… that has a nice ring to it.', I thought to myself as I entered and headed towards the furo to take a bath… Finally I was done and I headed towards the dojo to work off some of my frustrations. I took up some kunai and flung them into a practice dummy with unerring accuracy and strength. I then proceeded to attack the wooden dummy and finally decapitating it with a singly spin kick. Trying to calm down I started through a kata that Hideki had taught me… It was supposed to relax your mind and help you enter a zen-like trance. When I was finished I did feel much calmer… I plopped down on the dojo steps and stared up into the blue sky… 'I wonder how long it'll be before Ranma shows up… Maybe we could be friends… we do have the same curse after all. Or… if he messes with me, I'll just hook him…no, her… up with Ryoga… they do make a cute couple… evil smile'  
  
That night when Hideki returned home and developed the photos, he called the whole gang together. The last time I'd seen them was on the ship… Daniel and Drake. I stuck close to Daniel's side, the colossal man actually made me feel a little safer around that 'snake'. 'Drake the snake… heh.' Anyway, that's besides the point. We basically started forming a plan of attack. He lay the blueprints for the Museum out on the table. "Okay… I think we should split up and approach from all sides… that would seem the best choice. First we have to disable the guards in the security room… According to the information I found, their last shift change is at twelve and then there isn't another one for the next six to seven hours… We'll strike at exactly twelve thirty. Drake… you're the fastest and you have the most stealth… You go and disable the guards… Don't kill them… we don't want to be held accountable for murder as well. Arima and I will go in and disable any of the patrolling guards while Daniel… I want you handy as backup… so you wait on the roof and keep an eye out for trouble." Hideki proceeded to indicate the exact paths we were to travel and I memorized an image in my head from the photos… Hideki also pointed out places we should avoid… those that included sensors and security cameras.  
  
After a full briefing I was promptly sent to bed… Saturday's still half-day school, after all.  
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CHAPTER END!!!  
  
Okay... this took me a while to complete so don't expect another chapter too soon, maybe three weeks to a month... I'm not sure, we'll see... 


	3. Heheh, all planned out, right?

CH3  
  
(AN: About her deciding to join Hideki and his gang so easily… Well… Lets just say that she liked Hideki form the start and she wasn't really bothered by stealing, as long as it doesn't really hurt someone too much… I mean… she stole tons of things while she was in China… it was the only way for her to survive. And besides… Hideki was a link to Nerima… she couldn't pass up the chance to easily find a place to stay there.)  
  
Hana met me outside the gates of my home before school the next day. "So? Tell me what happened?! You just disappeared without a word, yesterday…", she said with a frown… I sighed, "Well… In the bathroom, I took my clothes off to dry them… and, well… when I came back from the stalls they were gone! Someone stole them… … I had to walk home in my underwear.", I growled darkly at the sidewalk… "You did?!", asked Hana with a scandalous look my way. "Hey, my family's style is the ninja arts… speed and stealth is my specialty… nobody even saw me.", I said with an egotistical smirk.  
  
"Riiiggghhtt…", said Hana skeptically, but didn't broach the subject again, the rest of the way to school. We chatted about various inconsequential things that actually brightened my mood a bit. At the gates we were met with a horrific sight… well it would have been horrific if they weren't perverts… It seems Akane'd decided to go all out this time. The pervert-hoard was strewn all over the place, some hanging from trees while others were imbedded in the ground. "Looks like Akane's on the rampage again this morning… I wonder what set her off.", I wondered out loud. "I bet some idiot boy said something stupid…", deadpanned Hana. "I swear… they must be masochists or something… She beats Kuno up every day and they know they're not even near his skill level… so why do they even try…", I signed in exasperation. "Actually, I think I heard one of the boys mention something about it… Kuno is threatening every guy who doesn't challenge her… something about them not 'honoring the beautiful Akane Tendo.' He thinks that they think they're to good for her… or something like that.", commented Hana.  
  
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The day passed quickly and I said goodbye to Hana with a smile as we split up at the classroom… As I walked out the front of the school building I caught the glimpse of a boys uniform behind sports-storeroom which was partially hidden behind a small cluster of trees. (AN: Sport-goods storeroom? What do you call those again?…) 'Huh…? Nobody's supposed to be going there right now… We don't even have PE on half-days.', I thought suspiciously. I was torn between curiosity and my promise to Hideki… He'd told me to head home quickly after school so I could memorize my part of the operation but…  
  
'I've got hours to memorize it…', I tried to reassure myself as I snuck towards the storeroom. I kept my footsteps light but tried to appear inconspicuous to the people who could see me from the school building… I circled around the trees and came up on the opposite side of the storeroom… I could hear voices.  
  
I snuck up and leaned around the corner… There were two boys there. One with his back to me and another just opposite him. The second one moved a bit to the side, revealing his face… I frowned… it wasn't a familiar face but he had sharp features… The kind that the villains in the animè shows normally had. You know… those steely eyes… the sharp mouth. "Nabiki-san told me to give you this… it belongs to that girl we're supposed to humiliate…", he said as he handed the bundle to the other boy. "All you have to do is spread rumors that you slept with her and use this as proof… It has her initials on the strap…", said the boy. "Payment?", asked the boy as he turned to the left, giving me a view of both his profile and what he was holding… 'Gosenkugi!!!???!!! My bra!!!!!!!!!!!!' I stared at the scene with wide eyes… A dark aura of anger started rolling off me in waves… 'Peerrvveerrttss…', was the only thought that ran through my head, strangely enough… They probably felt someone walking over their graves since they both looked up and spotted me. I didn't care though… I stepped out from around the corner and stalked slowly towards them, my glasses giving off a piercing light as the purple and black waves billowed around my form. "Jjjuuuusstt whaaaatt dooo yooouuu thiiinnkk youuuu'rrree doooiiinnngg withhh myyy underweaaarrrr??", I ground out through clenched teeth… "Eeep!", cried Gosenkugi as he stuffed the bra back into the other boy's hands… "Keep your money! I'm outta here!!!" He was gone in a split second, leaving a dust trail in his wake…  
  
The other boy stared after him for a second before turning back to me, only to come face to face with something that could scare a hell-demon… 'a woman scorned'… He sweat dropped and laughed nervously.  
  
:: The following scene has been cut out by the author due to it's extreme violence and horrific content. (Hmmm hmmm hmm hehehehe hahahahaha HAHAHAHAHA BWAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!!) Now let's skip ahead in time a bit. ::  
  
I strolled down the street with a sigh… My anger was spent… but I couldn't help wondering what I'd done to get Nabiki on my tail… She's always been one of my favorite Ranma ½ characters… I was actually thinking of dating her if I ever came to this world…… A cool breeze blew over me, rustling the leaves of the sakura trees around me and picking up a few leaves, sending them into the sky… A hint of rain rode on the wind, stroking my insides like a calming drug. I somehow knew it was gonna soon rain even though there wasn't a cloud in sight… I could feel it in the air… I took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh again. 'What am I gonna do about this? I don't have the money to pay her to stop and I know that to her that'll be the only thing that would work with her… No negotiations… no other options… of course I could threaten her with physical violence but that'd properly make things worse. Then there's the option that I could join her as one of her lackeys… but that's not a very 'likable' option… She's already got Hideki under her thumb… He's practically giving her all of his allowance, just to be allowed to take pictures of Akane… sigh what am I gonna do?'  
  
I trudged into the house… For some reason it felt like I was being confined within these walls… I wanted to be outside right now… Right before it rains is always the best time… The air's always so fresh and there's a feeling of life that's never around at other times. Never the less flung my glasses on the small table next to the phone, mussed my hair a bit and went upstairs into Hideki's room, taking the plans out of the secret compartment in his desk before plopping down in the chair and settling down to study them. I spent the next four hours visualizing my orders and trying to think of what I would do if anything went wrong.  
  
Finally I decided I'd had enough… besides Hideki was over three hours late… I hid the schematics again and went downstairs, meeting mom (I've been adopted so she's my mom now), in the kitchen. "Hey mom… have you seen Hideki? He was supposed to come study with me but he's been gone all afternoon. She smiled at my casual use of the word 'mom' and said, "I think he said something about going into town to get some things… he should be back any minute now… He did say he'd be home for dinner." I frowned but nodded and headed towards the dojo to work off some excess energy from all the sitting around. 'He's always doing this to me, I'll get him back for it one day…' Truthfully I knew I wouldn't do anything… I'm too tolerant and forgiving… An image of a bashed Ranma returning to the dojo every single time sprung to mind. 'I guess we're a bit alike in that option.', I thought to myself.  
  
It was five 'o clock before I finished with my workout and looked up to spot Hideki with a perverted smirk in his face, at the dojo entrance. "You're getting pretty good.", he said with a smile. I glared at him, "Yeah… and it's all thanks to you.", I said with heat. (AN: Implying sarcasm… she's referring to the harsh training she went through. Damn I hate author notes but I guess some people wouldn't get most things without this and I have to provide for them… heh…sweatdrop) "Come on, get washed up so we can eat.", he said as he turned and headed into the house.  
  
I headed inside, taking a quick bath and plopping down at the table. That atmosphere at this dinner table wasn't as reserved as most Japanese homes… Instead of the quiet respect it was a lively event in which the three of us sat down and talked and well fought…like a real family… It's times like these that I miss Hiroshi… I wonder what he's doing now… "What I'd like to know is where've been the entire afternoon! You told me to hurry home and when I get here you're gone!?!", I cried exasperatedly. "Hey, hey… calm down… something came up okay… I'll tell you about it later…", he said quickly with placating motions. The look on his face told me not to pry further… 'What's he so serious about?', I wondered "I'll be waiting…", I snapped as I got back to eating, starting up a conversation with mom.  
  
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Darkness swept over the district and called out the nocturnal… tonight I was one of them. (The nocturnal, that is.) Side by side we sped over the rooftops towards the Nerima Museum… We were dressed entirely in black ninja outfits… I mentally catalogued the tools on my person. Some kunai, ninja stars, a few smoke bombs, a lock picking kit, a glass cutter, some rope with a fold-up hook, some chalk dust (AN: for the infra red lazers… I've seen this work in movies… I think… Right me if I'm wrong), a little flashlight and a katana. We paused in the darkness and waited for the appointed time. At precisely twelve thirty we sprung into action… I went for the second floor which had the least security while Hideki went into the first which had allot of pressure sensitive floors and infra red sensors. The museum kept all their most precious artifacts there… It was also where the guard station was centered so he'd probably run into Drake.  
  
I flung the hook up and climbed up to the window, trying to be as silent as possible… The window structure was basic, with metal strips crossing each other to form smaller squares… The logical thing to do would be to break the window and open it at the latch but if I knew the technological development they'd probably have sensors on the window latches. I slipped my katana out of it's sheath on my back and leaned back a bit, holding on the rope. I paused for a second, taking a deep breath and concentrating. I slashed out with the sword… three fluid motions…  
  
I looked closely and could see the thin white lines where I'd cut the window, metal and all. I gently took hold of the metal and pulled it outwards… a triangular piece of the window came out. I placed it to the side and quickly slipped through.  
  
The hall was dark and I waited for a second for my eyesight to adjust… I walked into the first exhibit room, keeping out of sight of the cameras. Shields, swords and a few well warn pieces of armor. Nothing of real interest. I moved on. After about ten minutes of walking I found nothing of any real interest… I'd took an old painting off the wall from behind it's glass casing and rolled it up, slinging it over my back… 'This is boring… Next time I'm going to ask Hideki if we could rob a jewelry store or something.'  
  
I walked on but didn't find anything else… I paused… 'Wait a sec… I think I saw them storing some artifacts in crates in some tomb raider movie... They normally do that before the things go on display… But that would be at the back on the ground floor.' I paused for a second… wondering if I should stick to the plan like Hideki told me or go off on my own… I weighed to pros and cons… 'Bah… like anything could go wrong. This is perfectly planned out…' Now anybody with half a mind would know that saying, 'what could go wrong' in Nerima is a big 'no-no'. And of course there's also the saying, 'No plan is ever foolproof.' But I wasn't thinking straight at that moment. I walked to the personnel stairs at the back of the museum and pulled open the door, knowing that it would show up on in the security room but I wasn't worried, Drake should have taken care of them by now. I swiftly ran down the stairs, skipping the first floor and the ground, going straight to the basement area… I tried the door, only to find it locked tight. I took out my sword again and concentrated once more… With a single swipe, the lock fell away and the door creaked open… I was starting to feel a bit winded from using that much ki in one night but I didn't let it stop me… I forced myself to continue as I walked into the room. I looked through the smaller crates and gaped at what I found… a jeweled necklace that looked like it could belong to royalty.  
  
I picked it up, admiring it for a second. Maybe if I… was still a normal guy… I wouldn't have been distracted… but as it was, I felt like a girl and I acted like one. I fastened it around my neck, running my hand lightly over it… I rooted through a few of the other crates… picking up a few things of interest when my eyes finally locked onto something familiar… 'It's the sword from the other day… What's that doing here?', I wondered to myself… It was against the wall, resting in a glass case… I walked over to it, dropping the bag on the floor… I admired it through the glass with wide eyes… Suddenly I heard a sound behind me and spun around… A security guard stood there with shaking hands and a look of fear in his eyes.  
  
For no apparent reason the gun in his hand went off, slippery trigger finger I guess. I felt something bite into my shoulder and gasped at the searing pain that filled my mind, driving away all reason. I heard the glass behind my shatter as I stumbled into the wall… Something clattered to the ground next to me and my hand closed around it… My vision was dark and I wasn't aware of anything around me… It kinda reminded me of those times that I was loafing in front of the tv back home(AN: I mean my home dimension.) and stood up too quickly… One time it was so bad it was almost like I had some seizure… I was home alone at the time though… I walked a few meters then as my vision darkened and leaned against the wall as my body spasmed, my muscles feeling like mush… I kinda liked the feeling… it was like being born again… It was like I reset myself… all the stress and emotion I felt during the day faded and I felt refreshed.  
  
(AN: I don't know if any of you ever experienced it but somehow it just felt right to put it in the story… I've always wondered what it was… Something about sitting wrong, pinching your arteries and then when you get up your heart gives and extra strong pump and the pressure is release, sending a rush of blood to the brain… It's probably really bad for me, right?)  
  
This time… even though I felt like my senses were dulled… I still moved forward, effortlessly pulling the sword from it's sheath and rushing forwards to where I suspected the guard was… though my body was moving on it's own accord. Slowly I became aware of myself again, noticing the sword rocketing to the man's neck my heart leapt into my throat and with a flinch I diverted the swords path, just in time… It passed less than an inch from the man's neck. He looked at me with wide eyes and whimpered as he dropped his gun, stumbling backwards and falling on his but. The man suddenly slumped to the floor, revealing Hideki standing there with hilt of his sword positioned as if he'd just hit the man from behind… the sword dropped out of my lifeless hands and I started falling forwards… Hideki was there in a second, "Akina! Are you okay?!" He's hand came away wet and sticky with my blood and he paused for a second, staring at it wide eyed. My head rolled to the side as I fell unconscious.  
  
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END CHAPTER  
  
AN: Well.... I just felt like ending it here to bug the hell out of you and keep you coming for more... You know I actually thought ahead in this one but it didn't turn out like I'd planned it at all... It's like the story is telling itself... I wonder why. Well... I guess I just felt like writing this one... even though it's a little shorter than the other two chapters. I decided to post it early and I'm even thinking of continuing this for a long time... I don't know but for some reason even I'm curious of what's gonna happen next.  
  
Please note that this is still a bit of a 'draft' if I can put it that way. I might rewrite it, I might not but anyway, it's here, so read it. 


	4. No! What's happening?

Chapter 4 (AN: … Okay… I completely forgot about Hideki's sister… and the fact that I mentioned that Hideki's mother was on the ship… Maybe I should go back and actually read what I wrote more often…Well, suffice to say… I've added a few extra lines to incorporate his sister into the story a bit more and I've changed his mother, on the ship, to his father… Hope you don't mind… I made sure to mark the paragraphs with a '', just to make it an easy read. ::That key above the enter key…::)  
  
NOTE : It seems that fanficnet won't accept the '' as formatting so I'll have to change that and a few other things later... I'll do that this weekend when I have enough time :P Sorry.. I promsie I'll fix things a bit later :P  
  
(AN: The next part is a bit… descriptive so… yeah… don't read this to your kids, it's gruesome… well not really… maybe…)  
  
I found myself back in the darkness of my beginning… the liquid flow of my surroundings wasn't calming this time though… It had a steel edge to it, something razor sharp that was cutting away at my conscious mind. I looked around as my surroundings slowly faded into view… I found myself standing on the Furinkan-high grounds and as I looked up, there at the gates… stood my brother… My eyes widened at the sight and I ran towards him and grabbed him in a hug, in typical 'girl' style… Hey, I did really miss him… He didn't react though and just stood there. 'Hiro?', I asked as I stepped back, my voice sounding strange and echoing in my head. I looked up at his face… he seemed strangely pale suddenly a bloodied spear point exploded out of his chest, stopping inches in front of my face, splattering warm blood all over me… I stared at the scene in front of me, completely horrified with wide eyes and mouth agape… I took a single step back but didn't utter a word… I was too shocked to even speak. My brother's knees buckled and he fell to the side, reveling the person holding the spear… "Hideki!!!", I cried, horrified… "You bastard!!!", I cried as I started running forward but suddenly I couldn't lift my feet. I looked down and noticed that there were millions of crawling black things on my legs, rising higher by the second. I felt like my skin was being peeled off me one fleck at a time, like millions of tiny needles were sticking into my pores… I looked up to see Hideki's face contorted in an evil smirk… he laughed… a sharp sound, like shattering glass… I let out a scream…  
  
The scene suddenly changed… the last seemingly forgotten for the time being… I was staring at Hana where she was leaning over Leiko's prone, blood splattered form. Hana was holding a knife in her hands she turned to me with an insane gleam in her eye and lifted the knife to her mouth, licking the blood off the blade as she slowly moved towards me, with a menacing place… As she came closer all those little bugs rose up again and as the climbed up her legs too I could make out that they were billions of teeny little spiders. Her skin seemed to melt off her as she moved towards me. She held up the knife and with those evil shining eyes she struck down at me, again and again… the pain was driving me insane… But that wasn't the end…  
  
'::Hate them…they want to hurt you… they want to kill you… kill them…::' "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"  
  
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Hideki looked over Akina's pale form where she was lying in Tofu's clinic. The wound had already closed without leaving a single scar, strangely enough… even though it had only been about sixteen hours. He'd had to call his mother and tell her where he was by the time morning came around… He'd just made up some story on 'how' this came to be… She came rushing over with Kazuko. The little girl was worried about her newly acquired big sister and didn't leave her side for a second… Mrs. Muzino was just as worried and was in the other room, talking to Dr. Tofu. Hideki thought back to the earlier conversation he'd had with the doctor.  
  
::Flashback:  
"Her wound seems to be closing up… I'm not sure what else is wrong with her though… I've never seen anything like it… It's like her life-force is being attacked directly by something… A virus… maybe…", he'd said. "Is there anything you can do?" "All I can do is try and maximize the efficiency of her chi flows and hope she has the strength to pull through on her own, I'm sorry… My first thought would've been to take her to the hospital but I think she might have died then… Most of those hypocrites don't even believe in chi. All we can do now is hope…" Dr Tofu was rambling but Hideki attributed it to his worry for his patient. Lucky for him Tofu wasn't going to ask questions about their strange choice of clothing… to him a life was a life and a patient was a patient. ::End flashback::  
  
Hideki slammed his fist into the wall, causing a little plaster to fall and his little sister to jump and her eyes to tear up a bit. Hideki looked at his little sister as she stared back at him with those big innocent eyes… She'd actually been so happy when she'd heard that Akina would be staying with them from now on. Her overexcited laughter and the extra energy she had… He hadn't seen her like that in such a long time. Maybe he could convince Akina to spend a little more time with Kazuko when she woke up… 'That's right… 'when', not 'if'.', he thought stubbornly.  
  
Dr. Tofu came out of his office, followed by Mrs. Muzino. "At the moment she's in a comatose state and I'm not even sure if she'll wake up… I think it would be best to keep her here though… I need to apply five-hourly shiatsu treatments to keep her going…" Hideki frowned as he caught the tail end of their conversation. "Thank you doctor…"  
  
"Come on honey…", said Mrs. Muzino as she took her daughters hand. "But I want to stay with A-ko.", she cried in defiance. "You can come to visit her later… it's getting late and you haven't had anything to eat all day… You'll get sick… You too Hideki plus I think you need some sleep." "It's fine mom… you go on home… I'll stay here and keep an eye on her, I'm sure Dr. Tofu'll make me something to eat later." His mother looked hesitant but sighed… "Okay… But make sure to eat something and get some sleep… It wouldn't be right for you to keel over when she wakes up, right?" He gave his mother a reluctant smile and turned back to studying Akina's prone form.  
  
His mother looked at the scene sadly… Dr. Tofu had told her that it was some kind of virus and Hideki had said that she'd come to his room during the night complaining about not feeling well… when she collapsed he'd taken her to the doctor's as fast as he could. She turned around and took hold of her daughter's hands once more as they left the clinic… Something wasn't right about this but she just couldn't place it. Never the less… it wouldn't do worrying about it… That'd only make things worse for everybody else… so she chose to do what she always did, take care of her family.  
  
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Hideki's eyes slipped over her form as her breathing suddenly sped up… he was glad his sister didn't see this, it would've scared her way too much. Akina suddenly started struggling as Tofu's pressure points started loosing it's effect… "No… please… stop….", she moaned… A black aura appeared around her form and flickered wildly as it started drawing in all light… "Doctor Tofu!!!", cried Hideki frantically. Tofu was there in a flash, quickly hitting the pressure points to help her fight it… she let out a soul shattering scream before finally collapsing on the bed as the dark aura receded.  
  
Hideki was as white as a sheet… He couldn't take much more of this… The stress was starting to wear at him. He never did notice Tofu sneaking up on him and striking the pressure point in the back of his neck… later he would just believe that he'd somehow let himself slip into the comforting embrace of sleep… "Sorry Hideki… but you really do need some sleep. I'll see about getting some nutrients into both you and Akina. Now where did I put those things… Maybe I should call up Dr. Ikari at the hospital for that favor he owes me.", said Tofu.  
  
Luckily, to everyone's relief Akina woke up on Monday morning.  
  
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I opened my eyes to see Hideki's face in front of me… The images I'd seen flashed through my mind but I didn't want to accept them… I tried my very best to reject them but on some level they stayed with me. Hideki grabbed me in a tight embrace, startling me… "Thank heaven! I'm so glad your okay!!", he cried… "It's been almost thirty hours! I thought you weren't gonna wake up at all. Dr Tofu said that-", he sounded sincere and extremely worried… I smiled and tried to stop from shaking and shivering too much, pushing the horrible images I'd seen into the back of my mind… that Hideki and this one were two different people. Instead of their faces I compared their eyes… I pushed Hideki away for a second, clutching his face and staring directly into his eyes… Yes… I'm right… This Hideki has a soul behind those bluish green orbs… that one didn't. I relaxed a bit, feeling that I'd finally escaped that never-ending nightmare.  
  
"Doctor! She's awake!", cried Hideki… Tofu quickly came in the door. "Well, well… Looks like you're feeling better. You're still weak though and I can still see that thing residing in your aura… Only repressed, for now…", said Tofu… "C-can I go now… I just want to get out of here…", I mumbled, feeling dizzy and like I was gonna throw up. "She's not cured and until I call my friend at the hospital so we can figure out what's wrong, I'd like to teach you a few of the pressure points I used, just in case of an emergency."  
  
It took Hideki about half an hour to figure things out since he was already pretty well trained. Finally we left and he lead my back 'home'… I really wanted to go home… XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
  
When we walked in the front door I was immediately enclosed in a warm embrace, by both mom and my little sis. They seemed excited and happy…  
  
Hideki dropped me off in my room and mom smiled happily at me, glad to see I was doing better. Kazuko just stared at me curiously before coming up to me and giving me a hug. Giving a cute kid a hug is ten times more therapeutic than gnawing on a stuffed animal's ear, believe me, I know. I just held her for a few seconds, relishing in her warmth and her re-enforcement in my faith that what I'd seen was only a nightmare.  
  
My mind still felt like it'd gone through the deep fryer and the got torn to shreds and pieced back together again but I was at least starting to feel a little better… the foreboding feeling of dread still clung to the back of my neck, though. I just couldn't shake the feeling that something was really, really wrong.  
  
It'd been raining outside the whole of yesterday and during the night, according to Hideki… he said it was heaven's way of showing they cared. Bah… what's that supposed to mean… I suppose I'm supposed to say something like, 'Sometime guys can be sweet', right? Well I'm not gonna. Blech!  
  
The fresh air that flowed into the window did do wonders for my headache though… I've always liked rain…  
  
Hideki finally got ready for school and by that time Kazuko was gone to school and mom was off at her morning shift at the local bank. Working eight to twelve wasn't all to bad, especially if you had kids to take care off and besides, with Mr. Muzino's family support and the things mom got from the divorce, we were well enough to get by easily. Especially with Hideki's 'pass-time'…  
  
I refused to stay in bed, using my, 'What am I gonna do if I need those shiatsu techniques you've learnt?', as an excuse. "But you're still weak and the doctor said you need rest." "Well you have a choice then, miss school and stay with me or you can take me with you(that didn't sound to good) but I'm sure the fresh air and sun would to me wonders, come on please!!!", I begged. Hiroshi didn't have a good enough counter for that dreaded technique and soon we were off to school… I had to promise him I would stay away from class and take it easy, of course.  
  
We got to school easily enough, even though I did feel a bit tired and winded by the time we got there. Hana met me outside of the school gates and Hideki left us to 'catch' up a bit. I told her what had happened, leaving out the little late night wandering. "Are you gonna be okay?", asked Hana, in a worried tone of voice. "I'm fine… I think I just need a little rest and then I'll be as good as new-", my attention was suddenly drawn to the gates as Akane came rushing through with her usual, "I HATE BOYS!!", routine… It seemed a bit more flaunting this time around though… Like she was trying to show off her 'skill'. Then I noticed a familiar figure on the wall and stopped cold, staring at him wide eyed… "R-Ranma?", I mumbled… "You know him?", asked Hana. "Uh… Um… yeah.", I stuttered, "Ranma Saotome one of the best fighters you'll ever meet. He's a bit of an egotistical jerk though." 'Shit! I could've sold this information to Nabiki as counter payment… IDIOT!!', I cried internally, 'Well… it's too late now.' "He's cute!", exclaimed Hana as we watched Ranma jump off the wall and walked towards Akane with a casual swagger. "He's so dreamy.", enthused Hana, reinforcing her earlier statement . I just looked at her funny… Okay, so he was good-looking and he had this rebellious look to him that made him even more attractive but he's still dumb as a brick… He does make a cute girl though… I quickly shook the images from my mind, blushing.  
  
"You'd better get to class… Don't wanna be late, besides, it looks like it's gonna rain again, any second now…", I said while looking up at the clouded sky and pushing my friend towards the school building. "But I wanna watch some more…", whined Hana. I twitched a bit at that… jealousy? Nah, couldn't be… right?  
  
The rain was quick and after classes had started, sending an excuse for myself with Hana, I walked out to look for a dry spot to relax. The quickest spot to dry in the morning sun was the cement walkways… I quickly chose a spot near the swimming pool, dangling my feet in the cold water…I lay on my back and looked up at the sky, still feeling a little light headed and sleepy… I heard commotion from inside the school building and got up, casually starting to stroll away from the pool in the direction I suspected Ranma'd run.  
  
A slight dull thudding emanated from the back of my head. Suddenly there was a loud splash behind me and even though my heart jumped into my throat, I didn't let my body show outward sign of it. I reached the top of the hill and ignored the commotion behind me… I leaned against a tree to regain my breath… sweat was starting to pour off me… I heard the light tap of Ranma's footsteps as she landed in the tree above me… 'Damn… I wanted to talk to her but I don't think that I-" Cough cough (Sharp pain through the back of my head) gasp I dropped to my knees as a coughing fit wracked my body… A warm liquid splattered onto my hands… at first I thought it was just spit but when I took my hand away there were light smears of blood on it… "H-hey… Are you okay?", asked a soft voice from beside me… 'It's only been two and a half hours… how can this be? Hideki said that-' "C-could you go get my brother, his name's H-Hideki.", I managed, leaning back against the tree.  
  
Akane came running up and saw me but I ignored the fading conversation as I stared at the clouds floating through the sky… I think Ranma sent Akane to get Hideki… I'm not sure… Darkness  
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Hideki came running up just as Akina passed out. "Get away from her!", cried Hideki to Ranma… He quickly complied, and just in time too. A deep black aura burst forth from her body searing the ground. Hideki coated his hands in a thin layer of ki, as Tofu had taught him and quickly started the shiatsu treatment.  
  
This time the black aura took a little longer to recede than last time but luckily it did. 'Shit! This looks bad.', he thought as he wiped a little blood away from the edge of her mouth… 'If only I could find out what's wrong with you?' He picked her up, cradling her body in his arms. 'The fastest way to Tofu is roof hopping and that means… I'll have to reveal my little secret… but right now… you're more important than that.', he thought. "I need to get her to Tofu's.", he stated flatly as he took a huge leap, leaving a stunned crowd behind. Ranma quickly followed after them…  
  
From the bushes a lone little ninja, belonging to the Kuno family stared after them… 'I recognize that feeling… it's the 'Kuno family curse'. But how did she get infected?', he thought to himself as he too leapt after the group, his curiosity getting the better of him.  
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'I'm back again…', I thought as I looked around in the inky blackness… "So you are…", echoed a fear instilling voice… I looked frantically around, trying to locate the owner of the voice. Sharp, cold laughter echoed off the unseen walls. Suddenly someone, a man seemed to meld out of the darkness… He had a deep black trench coat on and he casually strolled towards me with his hands in his pockets. His long black hair had silver strands intertwined in it and at first I thought his eye-sockets were empty but as he came closer I could see the black fire flowing from them.  
  
An evil, horrifying smirk adorned his face… "Looks like we finally meet… miss Akina.", echoed his voice from all around… even though the man in front of me's lips moved… the sound didn't come from his direction, nor any other place I could determine. He seemed amused at my confusion.  
  
"Everyone who seeks power will at one point cross paths with me. I can give you power… I can give you all the power you'll ever need… To kill your enemies, protect your loved ones, reach your goals or even conquer the world. All you have to do is answer me one question…"  
  
"Who are you?", I asked… my voice wavering just a teeny bit… even that seemed to make him smile wider. "You don't recognize me? I'm hurt.", he said mockingly, "I really wanted to meet you in person, after the first time I saw you… from behind that glass case… (AN: Come on! You have to have guessed it by now!)… "It can't be… you- You're that sword?"… the image of where I almost killed the guard when he shot me slipped through my head, coming back to me as clear as day… 'I came so close…', I though shivering… My insides twisted into knots at the thought of taking another's life. I remember back home… There were these large birds in our back yard that annoyed my dad… they dirtied our roof and everything, even annoying our dogs. My dad brought a gun though… one of those pellet guns. He wanted me to shoot them while he was away at work, but… I couldn't even bring myself to aim that thing at a single one of them… even though they were an annoyance… they still had life… I just couldn't… and… because I was too much of a wimp, my mother shot them….  
  
Just the thought of taking a life makes me sick to my stomach. I just can't bring myself to do something like that… I dropped to my knees shivering… Now that I think about it… that's probably the reason why my offense is still so weak… I keep pulling my punches no matter how hard I try… I never really want to hurt someone…  
  
"How are you gonna protect your brother… or Hana or even Kazuko for that matter… How are you gonna save them… You want power, don't you? You want to be able to hurt them…" "Stop it!!!", I cried as I clutched my head.  
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Dr Tofu was standing over Akina, watching her intently… Alongside him was an expert in the ki field, Dr. Ikari. They studied her ki flows intently and waited for some change… some sign of what was happening.  
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Outside Ranma sat in the waiting room with Hideki. "I'm not even her real brother!", cried Hideki… "He should be here right now…" Ranma-chan looked at him questioningly. "We adopted her into our family.", he said… feeling so stressed that he just had to take a bit off his load on someone. "When I met her she was just a petty little thief… only stealing enough to survive… although I don't really think that jeweled necklace she was wearing was for 'survival'. I asked my parents if she could stay with us for a while… Later… we adopted her into the family. She's really a good kid. She's kind and caring and she doesn't really stop to think about herself. She's always done what I asked her too… even though she complains allot. I don't know what I'd do without her… I wish her brother was here but he's off training in China now and he won't be back for a while." He looked Ranma-chan in the eyes… "Who are you anyway?", he asked suddenly. "Uh, me? I'm Ranma… heh, sorry about this.", she said nervously, her hand lightly plucking at her pigtail behind her head.  
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"All you have to do is answer me one single question…", he said as he pumped all the images from the 'nightmares through my head… "Do you want this power?", he asked… "NO!!!!! Please!! Just leave me alone…sob" "Hmm… Interesting…", he mused… quietly. "You… pass… I, the demon sword Kakashi, am yours to wield.", he stated… I stopped for a second and looked up at him as the pain stopped, "HEH!?!" "You're the first in over three hundred years to pass this test… You see… I'm drawn to those who seek power… and they are drawn to me. But in honesty, all power comes with a price… Therefore… I draw out their desire for power, trying to amplify it through greed, revenge and even fear… and if their desire is great, the price is even bigger. But you… you only wanted power to 'be part of the fun'… heh heh. You only wanted to be useful to your Hideki-kun. And when I tried to evoke the lust for power and revenge in you… you rushed him with only the thought of your own death in mind… and you waited for you're best friend to plunge a knife into your heart because you trusted her…Even at the very end when I wanted to give you the power you refused to take it. You're one strange human… Though that was a trick question… If you'd said you'd wanted power I would've given the first level of power, but at the price of your own sanity, as I've done with so many before me… …" Slowly his image faded away and I slumped down in relief… it was over, finally.  
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END CHAPTER  
  
AN: Okay, so this was a bit... I don't know... PS. It's still in it's draft phases so don't bully me too much... I still have to go through everything again and do a rewrite after I'm finished but that's a ways away... This one's a bit more 'drafty' than my other chapters but I'm getting there... (Maybe I should actually check my chapters before I post them... Nah that's for this weekend :P) 


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